


Kept Man

by toesohnoes



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-21
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-04 02:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/388602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has enough money to buy a small country if he wanted to (or a large one for that matter). All he wants to do is take care of Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written at my [Tumblr](http://toestastegood-fic.tumblr.com/post/21276507202/tell-me-tony-says-what-would-i-have-to-do-to).

“Tell me,” Tony says. “What would I have to do to keep you here?”

Steve looks up from where he is draped across Tony’s couch, his sketchbook in his lap. He frowns and tries to follow the thread of the conversation. Working on his portfolio, he thinks he might have missed something here. The last thing he remembers talking about was where they wanted to go for dinner.

“What?” he asks. With Tony, it’s best to be direct.

“I have enough money to take care of us both. It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Tony picks up a glass from his private bar and walks towards Steve. “You could quit your job, focus on your art. I get to have you here more often. It’s win-win.”

Steve watches Tony come towards him, unable to stop himself from frowning. Tony’s right. As self-obsessed as he can be, he usually knows what he’s talking about - but that doesn’t stop the seed of unease that is already taking root.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I don’t think I want to be your kept man.”

Tony waves his concerns away, nearly sloshing his drink over the sides of his glass in the process. “Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s very generous of you,” Steve says. He doesn’t know how to get Tony to understand what he’s about to say. Tony has lived in opulance for all of his life. He was born into a life of riches. “But I like my job. It’s satisfying.”

“You clean up other people’s shit for living,” Tony says.

Steve really wants to protest about that. He works at a nursing home, taking care of those who are too weak to look after themselves. Tony can dismiss that all that he wants, but Steve knows that what he does is important. He helps people. Can Tony say the same thing?

“I’m not trying to insult you,” Steve assures him. “I just want to keep a little independence.”

It’s tempting to take up the offer to focus purely on his art and forget the rest of the worries of the outside world. He doesn’t get nearly as much time to draw as he would like to, and trying to find the time or energy to paint is impossible. Tony could clear the way for him so easily.

Tony takes a seat beside him and spreads his arms out along the back of the couch. From there, it is easy for Steve to allow himself to fall against him, tucked under his arm like he is still small and young enough to need protection. “Just think about it,” Tony murmurs, soft against his ear. “You don’t have to make any promises, but just say you’ll think it over.”

That much Steve can do. He leans against Tony, even while his mind tells him to pull away and get some distance. Steve relaxes as much as he can, imagining what it might be like to accept what Tony is offering: trying to envision what life would be like as Tony’s man.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written at my [Tumblr](http://toestastegood-fic.tumblr.com/post/26013325833/previously-tony-tried-to-persuade-steve-to-be-his).

Steve is a proud and independent man, but Tony is a whole new level of stubborn. It takes him a while, but eventually he wears Steve down enough to relent: Steve quits his job and gives up his little apartment and moves into Tony’s life on a permanent basis.

“This doesn’t mean anything… big,” Steve insists. “It’s temporary.”

“Mmhmm,” Tony agrees, because he has in fact learned how to pick his battles. When it comes to Steve, when he’s wearing that particular expression, Tony has discovered that the best way to survive is to smile, agree, and then do his own thing.

“It’s just a trial. Just to see how things go. I needed to be able to devote more time to – well. You know.”

“Dressing up in skin-tight spandex and fighting evil? I know,” Tony says. “You don’t exactly need to justify yourself to me. I’m the one that’s been pushing for this.”

“That’s precisely why I need to explain it,” Steve mutters. He looks around at the apartment that is now theirs - shared. Tony tries not to watch Steve; he tries not be greedy, but he has Steve right there, right where he wants him.

He has Steve where he can take care of him. “Everything’s already set up. There’s a bank account in your name. I’d give you access to my own accounts, but things are a little complicated when it comes to finance and Stark Industries - it works out easier this way.”

His financial advisor had looked at him like he was insane when he had declared that he wanted to divert a sizeable chunk of his fortune into a side-account for Captain America - but, considering everything else that Tony gets up to with his finances, this is tame. Compared to building a space ship, funding one superhero isn’t too flamboyant.

He hadn’t mentioned that he wasn’t funding the hero, he was funding the man.

Steve looks awkward and twisted at the very reminder of finances, so Tony presses in against him before he can start to mope. He steals a kiss from Steve’s mouth, basking in his presence without having to worry about when Steve will need to go home.

Tony only breaks away once he hears Steve give a contented moan. Good. That is the kind of sound that he wants to hear Steve making constantly from now on. He tucks his hands into the back pockets of Steve’s trousers, his palms pressed against that firm, tight ass. “Just wait ‘til you see the studio I’ve set up for you,” he says with a smug grin. “Picasso would’ve been a hell of a better painter if he’d had me backing him up.”

Steve laughs in surprise, a sound that rumbles right through Tony. He would spend every single cent of his fortune if it meant that he could keep Steve laughing like that: hopefully, it isn’t going to cost _quite_ that much.


End file.
